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Seriously, what does it take to put the rumors to bed?

Jermaine O'Neal, who can opt out of the final two years of his contract at the end of the upcoming season, said several times over the past year that he and the Pacers should go their separate ways if he couldn't make them an elite team.

"I'm here, I'm happy to be here, I feel good," he said Monday during the team's annual media day. "I like the staff and I like the guys. It should be an exciting year. It's a new year, too. That's the most important part."

Trade rumors could resurface if the Pacers get off to a slow start or if Lakers officials feel like they need to make a move to appease Kobe Bryant.

===

No author to put his name next to it, no sources saying the trade is still on, no Indy management saying they'd be willing to trade JO. Just speculation that got printed.

The deal is dead. D-E-D dead.

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Re: Seriously, what does it take to put the rumors to bed?

jermaine's opt out next summer means that trade rumors will continue all the way up to the trading deadline.

winning games early should reduce the rumors since it would mean a) jermaine less likely to exercise his opt out; and b) management less likely to start the rebuild process (or reload, or whatever they call it)

Re: Seriously, what does it take to put the rumors to bed?

The trade rumors will stop when JO comes out and publicly announces his desire to remain a Pacer either through the remaining 2 yrs of his contract OR he signs a new contract/extension OR, alas, he is finally traded. Until then, we'll just have to accept the fact that these trade rumors - even speculative stories like the above - will continue to surface. The good news, however, is they've finally slowed down since the LA media debacle.

Re: Seriously, what does it take to put the rumors to bed?

there is no way he opts out of a contract that earns him 20 mil!!! who would do that?

Someone whose ego tells them they could do more and earn more elsewhere. Also, his ego (and agent) doesn't have to tell him that the new contract would get him 20mil per year, it would only have to be more than that in total years. Whether the reality of the marketplace would play out differently is another issue. What matters is what JO THINKS the marketplace would do if his services were up for the highest bidder. PLUS, he could think the Pacers would want back in the bidding as well. So he could even think the Pacers might want to pay more for their 'face of the franchise' if they were painted into a corner and he opted out. He might even think the fans would demand it.

Lastly, he could threaten a walk to force the Pacers hand in trading him for whatever assortment of bread cumbs and bad contracts they could get along with a 'potential' guy to make the deal half-way palatable and not lose JO for nothing.

(Note: There's even the chance that his bank account is so full that money wouldn't be the driving factor (I'd put this possibility way down the list tho).

In any case- To assume there's no way JO walks is a bad assumption. Where there is a will, there's a way.

The scenario exists, and will exist, until an official decision is made at the proper time (either way).

-Bball

Nuntius was right. I was wrong. Frank Vogel has retained his job.

------

"A player who makes a team great is more valuable than a great player. Losing yourself in the group, for the good of the group, thatís teamwork."

Re: Seriously, what does it take to put the rumors to bed?

Very good points, Bball. $20M is alot to leave on the table, but like you've said if that $20M could be spread out over the lifetime of a new contract making it "appear" he hasn't lost a thing financially, JO could very easily walk away. I think the only thing that keeps him here is the Pacers getting back to winning and performing w/o all the off-court issues. This could very well be the start to finally setting things back to some form of "normalcy" again under the JOB era.

Re: Seriously, what does it take to put the rumors to bed?

Very good points, Bball. $20M is alot to leave on the table, but like you've said if that $20M could be spread out over the lifetime of a new contract making it "appear" he hasn't lost a thing financially, JO could very easily walk away. I think the only thing that keeps him here is the Pacers getting back to winning and performing w/o all the off-court issues. This could very well be the start to finally setting things back to some form of "normalcy" again under the JOB era.

There is another year to that contract. IF JO leaves he is leaving almost $45 million over two years. The team he resigns with would have to under the cap. Or sign him to the MLE. Or have other exceptions (GSW). He would have to sign a 5+ years to get that 45. and thats wasting opportunity to get more money on top of that with those 5+ years.

Create an ignore list. I know it may seem unneighborly. But you're here to talk about the Pacers, not argue with someone who's just looking for an argument. Most of the regular users on here make use (at least occasionally) of the "Ignore" feature. Just go to "Settings" -> "Edit Ignore List" and add the names.

Create an ignore list. I know it may seem unneighborly. But you're here to talk about the Pacers, not argue with someone who's just looking for an argument. Most of the regular users on here make use (at least occasionally) of the "Ignore" feature. Just go to "Settings" -> "Edit Ignore List" and add the names.

Re: Seriously, what does it take to put the rumors to bed?

Unless JO has a monster year and goes injury free (and the Pacers go somewhere in the playoffs), how could he opt out of his contract. Who's going to pay him 20M a year as a free agent in a long term contract. Will he be willing to take less?

"He wanted to get to that money time. Time when the hardware was on the table. That's when Roger was going to show up. So all we needed to do was stay close"Darnell Hillman (Speaking of former teammate Roger Brown)